Its Not Over
by riters-Bloq
Summary: Sequel to Life, Interrupted. Chlack, as always. Chloe has never been more afraid in her entire life. Losing Jack was one thing, but now could she lose her son, too?  I live for reviews, ya know. Enjoy!
1. The Storm

_As always, I didn't, don't and never will own '24', Jack, Chloe, or anyone else who happens to be….not mine. I DO however own JJ. He's mine. Take THAT, '24' writers. Please review after reading, I like to see if I'm actually hitting the mark when it comes to my writing. Thanks_, _and happy reading!_

-_A_

Chloe O'Brien sighed heavily as she stumbled through the door. Rain was pouring from the sky, her shoe had a broken heel, and she was weighed down with a week's worth of groceries that were threatening to break through the plastic bags at any moment. Her son, who she balanced in the crook of her arm, found the whole ordeal rather humorous. Chloe shot the toddler a look. "Its not funny, JJ." She mumbled as she maneuvered her way through the foyer, dumping the groceries in the floor and placing the boy in his playpen. She looked around the house. Other than the security lights, the house was dark. She stepped quietly down the still hallway and into the bedroom, hoping he was just in bed. No luck. The bed was made, his clean laundry still folded on his pillow, evidence that he still wasn't home from work. Shaking her head, she made her way back into the kitchen and started putting up the food. Six months ago she would have been worried sick at his absence. Now it was nothing new.

Almost two years had passed since Jack had reappeared in her life and their son had been born. The two had married shortly after, and moved into a smaller, more comfortable home farther from the city. She had to be fair, Jack was a wonderful father. From the day they brought their son Jack Jr, affectionately known as JJ, home from the hospital he had made the child his entire world. He was a regular Mr. Mom, changing diapers and feeding the preemie in the three hour intervals the doctor had required while Chloe recuperated. At first all had seemed well, but as time went on she found that their relationship had drifted. Jack had drifted. While Chloe had all but quit doing on-location work for CTU, just coming in once a week and doing the rest of her tasks from home, Jack had become more involved in his duties than he had ever been. Long hours in the office and days away from home were nothing unusual. In the past two months alone, Chloe could almost count how many times he had spent the night at home, and she could count how many times they had been together when he was, which was zero. She barely saw him, and when she did he was either too tired to carry on a conversation or too busy and irritable to be bothered. They had had some rather heated discussions about it on several occasions that usually ended with Jack shouting about how he was doing the best he could, and then shutting himself in his office while she stewed in the living room and watched Sesame Street with JJ.

Now she was sitting on the couch, flipping channels on the television and watching JJ toddle around on the floor and stick inedible objects in his mouth. She smiled wearily, reaching over to muss his sandy blonde hair. "Oh, you." She sighed as she placed him in her lap. "You look just like your daddy." JJ giggled and kicked playfully. "Da!" He squealed, anxiously looking at the front door. Chloe shook her head. "Nope, daddy's not here." She told him wearily. This didn't seem to phase the toddler, who had gotten down from Chloe's lap and was now entranced in the zoo animals that were on David Letterman. Stretching out on the couch, Chloe had almost dozed off when she felt a familiar vibration on her thigh. She picked up her phone and glanced at the display. One new voicemail. She bit her lip as she listened to the message.

"Chloe, its Jack. I won't be home tonight, I have to finish some things here at the office. Tell JJ goodnight for me, and I'll see you…soon." He paused as if he was ready to hang up, then cleared his throat. "Happy anniversary, Chloe." He said finally, followed by the click of the receiver ending the recording. She sighed, tossing the phone down on the couch cushion. "C'mon, JJ…" She whispered, picking the boy up. "You've stayed up too late already. Time for bed." He whined softly, rubbing his eyes sleepily. She carried him to the nursery, tucked him in, and turned out the light. As she headed to the empty bedroom, she glanced at the picture on the coffee table. She and Jack holding JJ the day they brought him home from the hospital. Everything was all smiles then. Now she felt lucky if he even kissed her good morning. As she laid her head on the pillow she could feel the burn of tears in her eyes.

"Happy anniversary…" She murmured quietly as she drifted off to sleep.


	2. Gone Like Yesterday

She awoke the next morning feeling a little better, but not much. _Maybe today won't be so bad…_she thought, trying to talk herself into some sort of optimistic outlook. All she had on the agenda was to take JJ to the park and maybe rent a movie...so maybe it _wouldn't_ be so bad. She stretched, looking at the clock. 7:30. JJ would still be fast asleep for a while, and she didn't want to wake him too early. Pulling her robe around her, she padded downstairs and made some coffee. She didn't feel like going out to get the paper, so instead she flopped down on the couch and turned on the local news. As she sipped her coffee, she glanced at her cell phone. Jack would surely be up by now, and he probably wouldn't be busy at this hour. Her stomach churned with anticipation at just the thought of talking to him. The last time they had spoken, they ended in a fight, and all she had wanted to do was just _talk _to him all week. Now, hopefully, she would get the chance. She listened as the phone rang once, twice, three times, and her face fell in disappointment when his voice message answered. It was short, only giving his name and a request to please leave a message. Jack never was much for long voicemails. Chloe sighed, left a "Hi, call me back…" and hung up.

After killing some time watching some local morning shows, Chloe took a shower, still being careful not to wake her son. After she had dried and straightened her hair, she thumbed through all of the clothes in her closet, not finding anything in particular that she felt like wearing. She looked out the window and frowned slightly. The morning was cool, damp and grey thanks to the rain the night before. It really wasn't great weather for the park, but she had promised JJ she would take him, and she just didn't feel like hearing him whine about it if she didn't. Finally settling on sweatpants and an old college sweatshirt, she pulled her hair back into a sloppy ponytail and went to wake JJ.

The boy was not exactly happy to be awoken at first, but once he was reminded that it was park day, he perked up prety quickly. After getting him dressed and fed, they made their way out to Collin's Park, which was only a few miles from where they lived out in the outskirts of town. The park was always a source of entertainment not only for JJ, but for Chloe as well. Before she had married Jack, she would sometimes come to the park and read computer manuals under the shade tree when she had a bad day. The breeze and the smell of the outdoors would usually perk her up in an instant. But as Chloe parked the black Suburban this time, she felt uneasy. Something wasn't quite right about the park today. The dull grey sky cast ominous shadows on the playground, shadows that made Chloe's stomach turn flips. "It's nothing…you're just being paranoid…" She muttered under her breath as she unbuckled JJ from his car seat. Quickly putting on a smile, she lifted the boy from his seat. "Ready to go play on the swing little man?" She asked playfully as she toted him over to the deserted playground. JJ squealed in delight. "Seeng mommy! Seeng!"

As she sat him in the kiddie swing, she once again found herself feeling uneasy. She scanned the area carefully like a doe on the lookout for an unseen hunter. The park was nearly completely deserted. Only a few people had braved the cold weather, and most of them were high school kids looking to score some pot or squeeze in an early morning make-out session. She shook her head again. "Stop it, Chloe…" She murmured, making a valiant attempt to calm herself. _But something's wrong!_ Her mind argued as she swung JJ. His laughter echoed in the eerie still of the air, and she began to calm down a bit. "Seeng higher mommy!" the boy squealed, clapping his hands wildly. Before she could though, Chloe felt her phone vibrate against her leg. She picked it up.

Jack.

"Hello?" She breathed anxiously, anticipating his voice on the other end of the line.

"Did you call?"

"Yeah…I just wanted to talk."

She could hear a scoff on the other end of the line, and when he replied, his voice was razor-sharp. "Chloe, you know I can't just _talk._ I'm busy. You may not have to work anymore, but I do. I don't have time to _just talk._"

The words cut her like a knife. She knew she was going to start yelling at any given moment, so she gave JJ a quick push that would keep him swinging for a while and turned away. She didn't want him to hear what she had to say.

"Maybe if you would come home once in a while, I wouldn't have to call you. And besides, what happened to a little spousal communication? You're never too busy to talk to Bill when you two want to go play golf on your days off. You're never too busy to talk to the new intern. What's her name? Susan? How many times have I had to wait for you to FINISH talking to her before I can get a word in?"

Jack started to reply, but was cut off by another barrage of lectures. Behind her, Chloe could hear JJ kicking his feet and calling for her to swing him again. She would get to him in a minute.

"Chloe, I'm sorry. But there are a lot of things going on here, and I can't just leave them for someone else to do while I go off and chat. Maybe when things settle down I'll have more time…but for now you're just going to have to work with me."

Still unsatisfied with his answer, she brushed him off with a cold "Fine, whatever." When he said "I love you," as he hung up, her eyes stung a little from a mixture of angry and guilty tears, but she quickly wiped them away as she slammed her phone shut, stuffed it angrily in her pocket. JJ had stopped yelling for her to swing him, so she figured he must have gotten bored. Feeling bad about ignoring him while she had yelled at his father, she decided to make it up for him by taking him for ice cream. "C'mon JJ…Let's…" Her voice trailed as she turned toward the playground where she had left her son just moments before.

The swing was empty.


End file.
